The Quick 10: The Poop on Peeps

I love Peeps. I don't want them right out of the box, though. I prefer to cut a small slit in the box, then let them sit around for a few days getting a little bit crunchy. That's right: stale Peeps. One of life's little pleasures. But you don't have to have a serious sugar jones to appreciate the value of a Peep. Check out these 10 ways you can make use of the sugar-coated, marshmallow chicks.

1. Peeps aren't just for Easter"¦ but you probably already knew that. There are apparently some people out there that don't realize that Peeps come in more shapes than chicks and bunnies, because Just Born, the company that makes them, has recently adopted the slogan "Peeps: Always in Season." And they are, pretty much. You can get them in Halloween shapes, Christmas shapes, Valentine's Shapes and even Fourth of July shapes. I think they're missing the boat on shamrock Peeps, myself.

2. The Peep-making process is almost totally automated now, but there was a day when each shape was formed by hand. From start to finish, it took 27 hours to make a Peep when they were first introduced to the public in 1953; these days you can have a fresh "˜mallow in your hot little hand in six minutes flat.

4. According to Just Born's research, my love of stale Peeps isn't very normal. Only 17 percent of people polled liked crunchy Peeps; the other 83 percent take theirs fresh out of the box. To which I say: Have you ever tried it? Give (stale) Peeps a chance.

5.The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile may be more well known, but I'd be positively delighted to see a giant Peep speeding down the highway. Also "“ free samples?

6. Peeps have been the best-selling non-chocolate Easter candy for more than a decade.

7. Peep chicks come in several different colors. They were originally just yellow and pink; white wasn't too far behind. Lavender wasn't added until 1995, and blue chicks made their debut in 1998 for Just Born's 75th anniversary. Proving that sometimes the original is still the best, yellow is still the best-selling color.

8. There was a fire in the Peeps part of the Just Born factory in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1999 that destroyed huge batches of Peep chicks and bunnies. The damaged candy was sold as an animal feed ingredient, but don't worry, Just Born managed to recover in time for their main holiday. I'm happy to report that there were no Peep shortages for the 2000 Easter season. Whew.

9. Think you have the stomach for 102 Peeps in 30 minutes? That's where the record stands at the moment. "The Dennis Gross Sacramento Peep Off" is held annually to try to top this 2003 record. Participants chow down for 30 minutes, then have to sit for five and prove that they can keep all of that sugary goodness down. The most recent winner fell short with only 45 consumed. Celebs like to get in on the Peep contest action as well "“ check out Dane Cook and Jimmy Kimmel competing to see how many Peeps they could fit into their mouths on Jimmy's show last year. I'm not saying it's pretty.

10. Peeps make a pretty good fine art project, too. Miss C. has posted some of the best Peep art for the past couple of years, which you can find here and here.

Do you love Peeps or hate "˜em? Any special technique for eating them? I'm telling you"¦ try them a little stale this year. You won't regret it.

You know whether you prefer chicks to bunnies, fresh to stale, or plain to chocolate-covered. But there’s a lot you may not know about Peeps, everyone’s favorite (non-chocolate) Easter candy.

1. IT USED TO TAKE 27 HOURS TO MAKE A PEEP.

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That was in 1953, when Sam Born acquired the Rodda Candy Company and its line of marshmallow chicks. Back then, each chick was handmade with a pastry tube. Just Born quickly set about automating the process, so that it now takes just six minutes to make a Peep.

2. AN AVERAGE OF 5.5 MILLION PEEPS ARE MADE EVERY DAY.

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All of them at the Just Born factory in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In one year, the company makes enough peeps to circle the earth—twice!

3. YELLOW CHICKS ARE THE ORIGINAL PEEP, AND STILL THE FAVORITE.

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Yellow bunnies are the second most popular color/shape combination. Pink is the second best-selling color.

4. THE RECIPE HAS STAYED PRETTY MUCH THE SAME.

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The recipe begins with a boiling batch of granulated sugar, liquid sugar, and corn syrup, to which gelatin and vanilla extract are later added. (You can take a virtual factory tour here).

5. THE EQUIPMENT HAS ALSO STAYED THE SAME. UNTIL RECENTLY.

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Since Just Born turned Peeps-making into an automated process, the chicks have been carefully formed by a top-secret machine known as The Depositor. Created by Sam Born’s son, Bob, The Depositor could manufacture six rows of five Peeps apiece in a fraction of the time it took workers to form them by hand. And that same machine that Bob built has been keeping the Peeps flowing ever since. Until recently …

In 2014, the company announced that it was planning to renovate its manufacturing plant, including The Depositor. “It’s a little sad,” vice president of corporate affairs Matthew Pye told Candy Industry magazine. “Bob Born made it from scratch in 1954 and it allowed us to distribute and grow the brand nationally."

6. THE NEW EQUIPMENT COULD MEAN NEW PEEPS INNOVATIONS.

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“The investment in our marshmallow making process will allow for more efficiency, more consistency, improved quality, and additional innovation capabilities,” co-CEO Ross Born told Candy Industry magazine about the new depositor, which will be able to produce a wider variety of Peeps in all sizes. “The [old] Peeps line did one thing and one thing very well—cranking out chicks day in and day out. Five clusters, just in different colors,” Born said.

7. PEEPS USED TO HAVE WINGS.

They were clipped in 1955, two years after the first marshmallow chicks hatched, to give the candy a sleeker, more “modern” look.

8. THE EYES ARE THE FINAL TOUCH.

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The final flourish for all of these squishy balls of sweetness is adding the eyes, which are made of carnauba—a non-toxic edible wax (that is also found in some shoe polishes and car waxes, plus many other candies).

9. PEEPS MAY BE DESTRUCTIBLE, BUT THEIR EYES ARE NOT.

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In 1999, a pair of scientists at Emory University—dubbed “Peeps Investigators”—decided to test the theory that Peeps are an indestructible food. In addition to a microwave, the pair tested the candy’s vulnerability to tap water, boiling water, acetone, and sulfuric acid (they survived them all). When they upped the ante with some Phenol, the only things that didn’t disappear were the eyes.

10. THEY REALLY ARE EVERYONE’S FAVORITE NON-CHOCOLATE EASTER CANDY.

For the past 20 years, no other non-chocolate Easter candy has been able to compete with the power of Peeps. With more than 1.5 billion of them consumed each spring, Peeps have topped the list of most popular Easter treats for two decades.

11. THERE ARE SUGAR-FREE PEEPS.

Counterintuitive, we know. But in 2007, the first line of sugar-free Peeps hit store shelves.

12. THERE ARE ALSO CHOCOLATE-COVERED PEEPS.

13. PEEPS COME IN A VARIETY OF FLAVORS.

Color and shape (i.e. yellow chick) are no longer the only ways to categorize a Peep. They now come in an array of flavors, including raspberry, blueberry, fruit punch, sour watermelon, candy cane, and orange creme.

18. THEY’RE A BOON TO CREATIVITY.

19. 37,000 PEEPS WEIGH ABOUT AS MUCH AS ONE BOY BAND.

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At least if that boy band is One Direction—prior to Zayn Malik's departure. The scientists at Just Born have estimated that it would take more than 37,000 pieces of marshmallow deliciousness to equal the combined weight of the band. Following Zayn Malik's departure, the Peeps team adjusted that number to 29,882.

20. THERE WERE APPROXIMATELY 2 BILLION PEEPS PRODUCED IN 2016.

You can eat marshmallow Peeps, and you can put them in someone's Easter basket. But that's just the beginning of what you can do with those small blobs of sugary goodness. Branch out and use your Peeps in new ways this year.

1. S'MORES

Peeps are marshmallows, and can be toasted over a campfire just like their plain, non-sugar-coated brothers—which means you can make classic S'mores out of them. Best of all: you don't even need a campfire to do it. Serious Eats has a recipe for them that they call S'meeps, which only requires that you pop them in the oven for a short time. If you're a Peeps purist, forget the graham crackers and chocolate and enjoy the unique taste of campfire-toasted Peeps all by themselves.

2. WREATHS

3. PEEPS-KABOBS

If you want to trick a kid into eating a fruit salad, just serve it up on a stick—with a marshmallow Peep in the middle. Blogger Melodramatic Mom made these for an irresistible after-school snack for her kids.

4. ART SUPPLIES

With their consistent shape and size, and variety of bright colors, Peeps can be used as pixels for larger artworks. Ang Taylor made this Mario jumping a Piranha Plant out of marshmallow chicks and bunnies. To be honest, there are many ways Peeps can be used as an art medium, as we've seen many times before (like in this collection of Peeps dioramas).

5. CAKE TOPPERS

Peeps chicks and bunnies are ready-made decorations that will easily stick to cake frosting and make for desserts that are both seasonal and colorful. If you need a recipe, check out this one for a Marbled Cake with Peeps and M&Ms. See some more cake decorating tips here.

6. PEEPS POPS

There's no danger of misshapen cake pops or drippy lollipops when you start with a Peep on a stick. Michelle from Sugar Swings made these candy pops out of marshmallow Peeps, and using Peeps left her plenty of time to decorate them as Star Wars characters. Michelle has plenty of other Peeps pops ideas you can try out, too.

7. PEEPS KRISPIES TREATS

We've seen that Peeps can be substituted for marshmallows in recipes, but remember that Peeps come in a variety of colors and can be bought in small batches. That makes them really useful for coloring separate portions of your Rice Krispies treat recipe. Kristen at Yellowblissroad has a recipe for Layered Peeps Crispy Treats, and a video of the process at Facebook.

8. DIORAMAS

Using Peeps as characters in a diorama, where you can let your imagination run wild, has become somewhat of an Easter tradition. Kate Ramsayer, Helen Fields, and Joanna Church put their heads together to recreate the Broadway musical Hamilton in marshmallow with a diorama that featured the lyrics to the show's opening number.

While The Washington Post has suspended its annual Peeps Diorama Contest after 10 years, other newspapers—including the Twin Cities Pioneer Pressand the Washington City Paper—plus local libraries across the country are carrying on the tradition and holding Peeps diorama contests. But you don't have to enter a contest to have fun making a scene with your family.